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EDITOR’S NOTE: Students in 12th grade Argument and Rhetoric, a college in high school debate class offered through the University of Pittsburgh, are currently preparing to debate the course’s common theme for 2015, a proposition that states, “In America, everybody has a fair chance to be successful.” Every student taking the course across Western Pennsylvania will debate this theme on some level, and those debates will be video-taped and sent to Pitt, where they will be scored by professors and debate students.  One representative from each school will then be selected to participate in a statewide debate on the topic in May at North Allegheny High School.

In preparation for this, B-A argument students were asked to read an article entitled “Life’s Not Fair – Deal With It,” which you can read by following the accompanying link.  Students then offered their opinions on the article and the general “fairness” of life.

Life’s Not Fair – Deal With It

I believe we all can agree life isn’t fair. The question is should life be fair? I believe not.

The Forbes article states, “It doesn’t matter whether you are born with a silver spoon, plastic spoon, or no spoon at all. It’s not the circumstances by which you come into this world, but what you make of them once you arrive that matter.”  I agree with this. I once read a book about “The Persecuted Church in China.” In it one man’s job was to sweep the roads. He did it to the best of his ability everyday no matter what. He was in what we would think was a bad situation, but he made the most out of it and was successful in what he did.

Also in the Forbes article, Rule 5 of the Rules for Life I believe is very true: “Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your Grandparents had a different word for burger flipping — they called it opportunity.” It is similar to what was said above, but slightly different. Rule 5 basically sets a good example of the American Dream: start out small and work your way up. Where a person is right now may not be the most desirable, but it’s a start that can be improved upon. This, I believe, is a vital lesson to learn and to practice.

Finally, the explanation of fair I found to be very appropriate. Fair is not an objective term; it’s a matter of perspective filtered by subjective assessment. Basically fair is not concrete. It’s what you make of it, and this changes for all.

I believe fair and just have become mixed up, and this is where the problem arises. This article defines fair in an appropriate way.